Title: Rebels of the Stars 1/? [REVISED]
By: GDH AkA "Dark Hilde"
Gundam_deathscythe_hilde@yahoo.com (Proud keeper of Ririna-sama's abominable
but cute'n tasty Hee-treats and Airen & D-chan's pocket pocky dispensors,
complete with refill packs.)
Pairings: 1x2 and 4x3 and FredXGene Others To be determined by course of
events.
Info: GW/Outlaw Star crossover fic. For Lyssira Miokii and friends. Please
excuse any mistakes I made. ^_^;; I did a lot of 2:30-AM I can't sleep 'till
I clear this up 'homework'.
Warnings: Nothing that will scare/scar you yet...
Later on-Jealous Hee-chan, out of body experiences, my first Lemon so be
honest!

(Mood music interlude, naaw, it's a complete thematic acclimation thing
that will make sense as time goes on.)
These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night I live another life.
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away.
~~Heart-These dreams.
(No really, I did send a fic...I think... *_*)

Rebels of the Stars 1/? (GW/OLS EDITED)

Jim was a busy boy. He'd just finished figuring up his business's debt.
How far down were they in the hole of eternal damnation? Gee, only six thousand
big ones! Why was this? Expenses. Living expenses, penalties, bills, Insurances,
ship and building repairs, docking fees, ammo and weapons (damn those Castor
shells!), bribes, you name it, all of the sort. Gene thought he'd had it
all under control. (Think again, smarty-pants.) What a joke. Just keeping
the ship in one piece was tearing them apart financially.

Things had been going down hill for quite some time now. Jim didn't even
care to think about when it started. He really didn't want something silly
like this to come between himself and Gene. The debts just kept piling up,
and it got worse the longer they sat around just twiddling their thumbs.
Gene was too relaxed. He'd kept saying their big break was on the way. The
only 'big break' Jim could see was when they hit rock bottom, kaput, the
end. Nothing could sway his partner and friend's firm grip on false reality.
Gene just couldn't admit that for the time being, the bounty-hunting jobmarket
aspect of his profession was temporarily closed. Jim wondered when he should
break their financial crisis to Mr. "I'm going to Clyde's Bar, no it's
not a job, oi-shaddup, Aisha, I need a drink...yeah, call me later and don't
worry, kid! Ah, ok, K, Jim, sorry." See? Way too relaxed for his own
good.

The V-Tel Phone began to ring. Gene was lounging in his reclining chair,
oblivious to the world, his nose in an old and worn mecha-magazine. Obviously
not going to answer it, couch potato by default since there was no one else
in the room but Jim. Typical twenty year old, Jim thought with a defeated
sigh as he got up to answer the call. Probably another bill collector, or
Clyde about that last brawl in his bar a couple days ago and how Gene managed
to shoot out half of the left counter, three bar stools and two tables for
a mere five hundred Wong bounty. Pathetic, and it'll barely cover the repairs
on the bar let alone next week's living expenses. Instead of an ugly Saurian
tough-guy asking for (iie, rudely demanding) more payment, as he clicked
the monitor on with a professional grin pasted to his face, he saw a youthful
heart shaped face hidden under a mass of chestnut bangs protruding from
under a black ancient-style cap.

He couldn't see the eyes very clearly in the dark Vid-phone booth on
the opposing end of the line. He clicked the camera option on and said "Hello,
Starwind and Hawking Enterprises, We'll solve any problem, big or small!
Ya need something, mister?" He almost cringed as he realized what he'd
just done. The face before him was not confirmed to be male, he'd just assumed.
The elfin-like shape could easily have been that of a female. With a mental
shrug, Jim decided to grin and bear it. Perhaps he was right. Anyway, he
being eleven years old, thought it a good idea to be polite to any potential
older customer, even if they are as young as this one appeared. S/He couldn't
have been any more than sixteen or so, tops. One thing about the darkly
clad figure on the other end of the line, s/he was all business, no nonsense.
The worst s/he could do was hang up.

"Ya got any parts for an MS?" the distinctly masculine, almost
familiar voice whispered the request.

"You need parts? Yeah, we can get 'em. What kind of parts, Mister?"
Jim wondered where he'd heard that voice before.

"It's important. I'm willing to pay ya whatever, ya know. Hush-hush.
Top secret kinda thing. You into that?" Gene glanced over the top of
his magazine to the Vid phone at the quiet boy on the screen, suddenly curious.
'Another job, perhaps?' he mouthed.

Jim smiled again. "Yeah, we can do confidentiality, guaranteed.
One thing- I'd like to help you but what the heck's an MS? Some kind of
Worker Mecha?"

The customer sighed, as if he'd expected that question. "Mobile
Suit. And I'm not talking your standard grade military Leo here, this is
big business!"

"Big business, huh?" Gene was liking the sound of this. "What
can we do for you...?" Suddenly taking charge, Gene got up and walked
over to the screen, dropping his 'zine on the table. Go figure. Now Gene
was busy with the customer, so Jim went to work.

"Mobile Suit, huh? Lemme check my data here..." Jim went back
to his console and began a search on Mobile Suits. He'd never seen one before
that he could recall. Perhaps the boy had been referring to Armored body
suits? But then, what the heck was that Leo he'd been talking about? A brand
name? It could have been Pirate manufactured, and unlisted.

He heard the low, whispered voice on the line, saying the word 'Gundam'
and keyed it into his search. Nothing came up in the legal directory, but
Jim had his sources. He logged into a current Black Market-ish Outlaw and
Pirate's directory, typed it in and immediately found the results. A sizeable
few tons of Gundanium, through the registered name 'Fred Lou'. Go figure,
once again. Their main supplier had what they were looking for. That merchant
arms dealer was into everything recently. And, the guy does it so openly
at that! It's almost despicable what he can get away with.

So, was Gundam a type of weapon, or something used for defense? Jim took
a closer look at the info while Gene talked almost friendly-like with the
customer across the room. Guess they'd hit it off well from the get-go.
Gundanium; rare to find, most expensive. Way beyond the average cost of
metals in this category. Hopefully this guy's got money to part with, beforehand,
so they could play the middleman and actually make a profit off this deal.
With any luck, this could be what Gene had predicted- perhaps they would
make it big!? Gene called over, asking if he could find any Gundanium alloy
in the market. Jim nodded and signed him the starting price. Gene looked
skeptic. He signed it again. The older boy turned back to the screen with
a smart grin.

"Hey, kid, you really got this kind of money or are you playing
us? We're talking millions as a starting price, not to mention the transport
and 'special, hand picked' handling expenses, Insurances, our efforts and
percentage off the deal. You still wanna go for it?" Gene asked, thinking
the kid was crazy, that or his employer was just whacked. No way a kid like
this could have that kind of money on his own!

"Holy shit..." Gene and Jim figured it up through signs, something
they did often when negotiating during a vid-phone link, off screen and
private without turning the sound off, which would have made most customers
uneasy. Would have been nice, though, if that option were available. Melfina
chose that moment to walk into the room, carrying a tray with some glasses
of juice and snacks.

"Gene, I thought you'd like these..." she started then noticed
their frantic sign language to one another. She still couldn't grasp what
the finger signs and waving motions meant. Gene had his face to the camera,
smiling and saying something to it about processing some important information.
He was signing because recently the privacy button had broken and for the
life of them, they couldn't get it fixed or afford a new phone.

Jim sent one last sign Gene's way, which stopped him mid-sentance. "...yeah,
and so-OLY FUCKING SHIT! That's incredible!" Gene sputtered. Jim covered
his ears with a protestant cry of "Aniki!" He hated it when Gene
did that! Melfina too, paused, more confused than surprised. Then she saw
the smiling face on the V-Tel.

Oh, that explains everything....

She set down the tray and walked over to Gene, who was still busy mentally
recalculating the impossible. Jim came over to the camera to see a wide
grin on the face of the customer, deep violet eyes flashing from under his
long bangs as he laughed at Gene's sudden outburst. "Are you really
serious?" Hawking asked, uncertain of their prospects.

"Of...haha...of course I am. I may run and hide but I never lie!"
Jim could tell it was a well used phrase. But, could he believe it?

"Uum... Mister? This is going to cost a small...oh, hell, who am
I kidding? This is going to cost a humongous fortune. How can you possibly
afford it? Says here this stuff is used in military, but rarely, it's so
expensive and rare itself! They use it as shielding on transport vehicles
of great import! And this is just plated, for crying out loud! You wanna
buy how much again?" Gene's ship was barely armoured so well, and his
was the best ship ever made!

"All you can get your hands on. Does that sound reasonable?"
The smiling voice returned.

"Oh, just ten million Wong." He then signed, off camera: 'And
we get two million of that. Remember, this is from Fred, and he sometimes
discounts it. Sometimes. Depends on what I can weasel outta him. We may
get more off this deal!'

Jim smiled, wondering just how Gene was gonna try it this time. He himself
never knew quite how to act around Fred Lou. It was obvious he'd had a thing
for Gene, but tended to forget that where business was concerned. Usually.
He'd also noted that sometimes Fred looked at HIM that way, so Jim tended
to shy away from frequenting Fred's neighborhood. Unfortunately for Fred,
Jim had other things planned for the tall red headed baka, but he wasn't
about to let that out in to the open yet! Kami only knows how it would be
taken...

"When can I expect to get it by?" the mysterious caller asked.

"Can you wait a week or so?"

"I 'spose so. You'll want me to pay in advance?"

"Uh...yeah...that's the way it works with deals this big."

"Consider it done. I'll come to your address in person for this
deal, then we can shake on it, ne? You're in the Heifon Area, right?"

"Hmm...wasn't 'sposed to. I am kind of hiding out, get it? Thought
you'da figured that one out by now. I got some nasties, 'OZ' bugs on my
tail and they are starting to itch. Keep this confidential or I'll have
your hide. The name's Duo, Duo Maxwell. I'll be seeing ya, Gene Starwind!"

The V-tel phone line went dead.

Jim turned their side off. "So, you're saying we get a couple million
Wong off this deal?" Jim gawked at Gene's nod.

"Precisely." Gene smirked. "We gotta play this right."

"Who's he work for anyway? What's OZ, some kinda pirate organization?"

"That's what I'd like to know."

"Oh, boys, now that you're settled down, I brought drinks."

"Thanks, Melfina. Oh, but I can't help but think something's up
with this deal." Jim frowned as he sat in a vacant chair. Gene took
a seat across from him and picked up a glass.

"I'm supposed to tell you that Aisha went out today, shopping again.
She took the last of the money you'd left in your wallet, there on the counter,
Gene. She says that she's going to get a few nescessities, and I think Suzuka
went with her this time. Hopefully they will put it to good use. I do hope
she planned food into that list of 'good uses' she made up this morning."

"Hah. Just like her. Run off, then ask later." Jim nodded.
He smiled at Gene.

"Well, tell her I am not mad. Like it would matter after this next
job, in the long run." Gene wore a dazed looking visage.

"Is she going to get a cut of the profits?"

"Some. Wouldn't wanna be in the same room with her if we told her
otherwise. We'll count it out later. For now...let's contact Fred Lou and
reserve that Gundanium alloy for Mr. Maxwell."